Hi my name is Brendan Mangnitz and I am the owner of 24/7 Wildlife Control. I have been in business now on my own for nearly five years and I have been in this industry for close to 10 years working with friends, family and other companies while learning, training and understanding the wildlife removal & nuisance animal control industry. I started off by graduating from the University of South Florida with my Business Management degree. After this degree I got into the field of wildlife control because I knew there was a big issue with squirrels getting into people's residences and I realized that there are not many professional squirrel removal companies. I wanted to be one of the most professional squirrel removal companies and squirrel trapping companies out there. You want to hire professional and honest squirrel removal and squirrel trapper that is properly licensed, insured, bonded, has workers comp, but additionally you want to hire squirrel removal companies and squirrel trappers that show up in uniforms, have wonderful customer service, have clean trucks and respect both of you and the animals like the squirrels being trapped. We treat our animals in a humane way.
This article goes over the dangers of squirrels. We all know squirrels are wild animals; there are many dangers with squirrels as well as other dangers with wildlife and animal control. In my opinion the biggest danger of squirrel removal and having squirrels in the attic is actually the squirrel poop you may encounter. You would think that squirrels are dangerous because they have rabies, can scratch you or viciously bite you, but in my opinion the first and most dangerous factor of squirrels in the attic is actually the squirrel poop. I will talk about the other dangers of squirrels in just a little bit. First, as you can only guess, squirrels have many different zoetic diseases these zoetic diseases can be transferred to humans. Squirrel poop can have leptospirosis, hantavirus, histoplasmosis, and squirrel roundworm. If you click on my squirrel poop page you can actually read about all of the different bacteria in great detail as well as how serious squirrel poop with squirrel roundworm can actually be to humans if ingested.
Squirrels can be extremely dangerous. If you think you're having an issue with squirrels in your attic you should contact a local professional squirrel removal company. Squirrels generally go into the attic to have their babies. If a mother squirrel feels that she is in danger or that the baby squirrels are in danger, the mother squirrel can attack humans. It is not a common occurrence but it can happen. A squirrel will bite you if the squirrel feels endangered, or if the squirrel is cornered, the squirrel will become very aggressive. The squirrel may try to scratch you, claw at you and the squirrel can become agressive. I advise my customers to stay away from squirrels if they are on your property or if the squirrel is in your attic. Please contact a local professional wildlife company like 247 Wildlife Control. We are properly trained, licensed and insured with removing squirrels.
The next big question that people ask us regarding the dangers of squirrels is; do squirrels carry rabies? Squirrels are not nocturnal, meaning that squirrels generally come out during the day. There are times when a squirrel can come out at night as well. Squirrels can carry the rabies disease but more commonly in the squirrel population, in an urban setting, is distemper. Distemper can make squirrels aggressive and it can cause squirrels to be dangerous. Distemper makes the squirrel look like it's crazy; squirrels can foam at the mouth. If a squirrel does bite you, you can be exposed to rabies and squirrel distemper. If you’ve been bitten by a squirrel, you need to contact your local CDC office immediately, they will need to get you tested for rabies and even administer the squirrel rabies shot. Rabies is a deadly disease that can take less than 3 weeks to kill you. Again, if you have been bitten by a squirrel and that squirrel has rabies and you do not get yourself tested immediately, the effects of rabies are in reversible and without treatment will lead to death.
Another common danger with having squirrels in your attic is the fact that squirrels like to chew. Squirrels teeth are constantly growing and in order to keep them at a decent length, squirrels need to constantly chew and gnaw to keep their teeth trimmed. When a squirrel is in an attic they chew the beams and wood that is in the attic, but most electricians run cables and wires attached to the beams in the attic. So if the squirrel is chewing the beam the squirrel can actually end up chewing on the the wire and this can lead to an open hot wire. These open and live wires actually cause sparks which can then lead to an attic fire. It is very common that squirrels chew wires in the attic, I see it every single day. When the squirrel chews a wire that electrocutes them, it shocks them and kills them but it does not always cause house fires. The reason why squirrels can lead to house fires is now that the squirrel has chewed the wire it is opened up and it is now what's called a hot wire, that wire is actually live and what can happen is debris in the attic like a cardboard box from your christmas ornaments can be next to that hot wire. The live wire will then send out sparks if it is shorting out due to the chewing from the squirrel and then caused the fire. That's why having squirrels In the attic is extremely dangerous due to the simple fact that squirrels chew wires and can cause house fires!
If you think you are having an issue with squirrels in your and want to get an expert opinion on the sounds you are hearing, give me a call! My name is Brendan Mangnitz with 24/7 Wildlife Control and I am always available to help identify the sounds you hear, and I would be happy to send one of our technicians out to assist you.
